NANAIMO BLUES FESTIVAL
With: Colin James, The Cash Box Kings, Angelique Francis, Ariel Posen, Annika Chambers & Paul Deslauriers, David Gogo, Jim Byrnes, and others
Where: Maffeo Sutton Park, 100 Comox Rd., Nanaimo
When: Aug. 8-11
Tickets: $50-$85 (daily) or $195 (festival pass) from nanaimoblues.tickit.ca
Blues music has no shortage of sub-genres, which makes for a confusing musical minefield.
The sheer breadth of the form — whose roots can be traced to the American Civil War — is hardly an issue for the Nanaimo Blues Festival, however. The wide range of options is precisely what the Nanaimo Blues Society aims to showcase with its annual multi-day event.
“The continuum of blues is quite broad,” said society president Jackie Moisan. “You’ve got everything from rocking blues, Chicago blues and jump blues to Delta blues, Mississippi blues and country blues, so we try to bring a good offering across that spectrum.”
The oceanside festival, which is held at Maffeo Sutton Park, has been surging in recent years, thanks to an impressive pedigree and some astute bookings. Last year, the festival brought in Downchild Blues Band, Rick Estrin & The Nightcats, Sue Foley, Powder Blues Band, Thornetta Davis, and Blue Moon Marquee as headliners. For the upcoming edition, Colin James, The Cash Box Kings, Angelique Francis, Ariel Posen, Annika Chambers & Paul Deslauriers, David Gogo, and Jim Byrnes lead the way.
Artists performing at the festival hail from across North America, including Chicago (The Cashbox Kings), Winnipeg (Posen), Calgary (Marcus Trummer) and Houston (Chambers). But the festival does not shy away from local talent, either. Once mainstage programming comes to a close, after-parties start up at The Queen’s on Victoria Crescent, featuring Victoria’s Bill Johnson Band on Friday and Nanaimo’s Shawn Hall, otherwise known as the Harpoonist, on Saturday.
Gogo (Nanaimo), Brandon Isaak (Duncan), and Thor Jonsson (Duncan) are joined on the roster by Victoria performers Auntie Kate & the Uncles of Funk, Deb Rhymer Band, and Louise Rose Trio. It’s a starry line-up, no matter where its performers call home: Ottawa’s Francis won the Juno Award for blues album of the year in 2023, while Bywater Call, a seven-piece Southern soul and roots rock band from Toronto making its Western Canadian debut at the festival, has received praise from blues favourite Joe Bonamassa, Moisan said.
Ticket sales are ahead by 25 per cent from where they were last year — which, at this point in 2023, put the festival 35 per cent ahead of where it was at the same juncture in 2022. “There is an enthusiasm out there for live music and festivals [in Nanaimo],” Moisan said.
Though the event is clearly trending upward, Moisan said she and her fellow organizers can never truly relax. “It’s building year upon year, but there is a bit of a challenge. A lot of festivals and arts and culture organizations are finding it challenging for funding and sponsorships. There is a lot more demand for those funding sources. We’re getting a little bit less [each year] because the funders are seeing double the amount of requests. It’s being spread a little more thinly. But that is not a unique challenge to us. We’ve talked to other festivals and they are feeling the same.”
She adopted the philosophy of making it a sales-generated festival, which necessitated the strong 2024 line-up. But the focus isn’t exclusively on established artists like James, an eight-time Juno Award winner. Victoria’s The Smokestacks are an important booking, according to Moisan, as the young Victoria band represents the future of the blues on Vancouver Island. The festival’s New Blues Showcase, featuring emerging Nanaimo talents Angela Wilson, Jared Popma and Sarah Terlesky, is another move aimed at helping the future generation of blues music in Nanaimo.
“We will continue to present emerging musicians,” Moisan said.
